Urban facing 5 charges

January 12, 2004|By Michael Jones, Staff Wrtier

LIVINGSTON TWP. - Found last month to be competent to stand trial, Thomas Frank Urban, 60, appeared Wednesday at a preliminary hearing in District Court, accused of attempting to murder two Michigan State Police (MSP) troopers when he allegedly fired a rifle at them during an armed stand-off outside his Bagley Township home on

Sept. 18, 2003.

Based on court testimony, District Court Judge Patricia Morse found probable cause to bound Urban over for arraignment in the 46th Circuit Court on Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 1:30 p.m. on all five charges leveled against him.

It is expected Urban will be arraigned next month on one charge of assault with intent to commit murder, which carries with it

a maximum penalty of life in prison; two counts of police-resist/assault causing injury; one count of felonious assault; and one count of weapons felony firearm.

The confrontation with police came about following a domestic disturbance reported earlier in the day between Urban and his wife, Gail Urban, in which he allegedly assaulted and threatened her with a gun.

According to accounts given Wednesday by the two troopers, Marvin Carlson and John Hetfield, Urban was standing only 10 to 15 feet away from them near his driveway on Old Alba Road when he reportedly fired one shot from an M-1 military style semiautomatic rifle in their direction around 10:30 p.m.

Carlson said he saw a dark silhouette in front of him and then shouted, "Don't move." He testified he saw the muzzle flash from Urban's rifle and heard the report of fire from the gun. "I heard the whiz of what I believed to be the bullet fired," Carlson recounted.

Hetfield, who was coming to relieve Carlson at the time of the gunfire, corroborated Carlson's testimony stating, "I heard Trooper Carlson say, 'Don't move,' then I heard the shot and heard the bullet fly by my head."

The gray-haired Urban, dressed in a jail-issue orange jumpsuit, slowly shook his head from side to side throughout the hearing, in apparent disagreement with witness accounts of events from last September's confrontation.

Of the five counts, only the assault with intent to commit murder charge was challenged by Urban's court-appointed attorney, James Deamud from Roscommon. Deamud contended the shot Urban fired was not aimed at anyone and there was no indication of any intent on Urban's part to kill either of the troopers. Judge Morse disagreed, stating, "He was told by officers, 'Don't move.' It seems to me pointing a rifle at anyone would be intent."

Troopers Carlson and Hetfield reported after the shot was fired they wrestled Urban to the ground and fought with him for several minutes in an attempt to subdue and arrest him. During the ensuing struggle, Urban and the troopers were injured and required medical treatment at Otsego Memorial Hospital. Carlson reportedly suffered a broken hand and Hetfield, who said he had been punched in the face by Urban, sustained a broken nose.

Urban, whom Hetfield testified had been hit a number of times with a flashlight and hand-held police radio, was treated for a head injury. "He was hit several times in the head which had no effect on him," said Hetfield. "He just continued to fight with everything he had."

It took the help of several other officers to finally get Urban subdued and handcuffed. After Urban's arrest, Hetfield told the court, troopers found two small handguns tucked inside the waistband of Urban's pants.